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SQM launches the eighth edition of the Apprentice Training Program
The company, a global leader in lithium production, launched the eighth version of the initiative, which it is offering in collaboration with the Antofagasta office of the Inacap Technical Training Center. Its purpose is to increase local employability by training diverse teams to face new challenges at the Carmen Chemical Plant.
A total of 36 young people from the city of Antofagasta trained as comprehensive maintenance staff who can work on mechanics, instrumentation and industrial electricity during the eighth version of the SQM Apprentice Training Program. The program’s initial stage benefits from the support of the Inacap Technical Training Center, an entity with vast experience in the provision of mining-related theoretical and technical knowledge. The goal is to better position apprentices to join the Carmen Lithium Chemical Plant’s operations team in the region’s capital city.
The purpose of the process was to train new members of the company, as Lithium Business Executive Vice President Carlos Díaz explained at the welcome ceremony for new apprentices. He said, “Our company is facing a major challenge, and we need your help to advance the country’s development by manufacturing products such as lithium carbonate and hydroxide, a key input for the global development of electromobility.”
“You should be very proud to be taking your first steps at this site, which produced approximately 50,000 tons a year a few years ago. Due to the market’s electromobility needs, this year we are producing around 100,000 tons and we hope to reach 250,000 tons in the short-term. This means that we will produce around five times as much as we did two years ago, and you will be responsible for driving that growth and continuing to forge the path towards operational excellence,” Díaz explained.
This version of the Carmen Maintenance Apprentice Training Program includes 200 hours of programming during which participants will be trained on topics related to safety, metrology, mathematics, statistics, hydraulics, transmissions, electric motors, lubrication and instrumentration.
Inacap Continuing Education Regional Manager Sergio Velásquez observed, “There is a whole team behind this program that will work with you on your professional development. I work with many companies, and the methodology used in this program is quite rare in the mining industry. This company is working on developing its staff and providing considerable support from the outset of the process or rather from the outset of these 36 young people’s careers.”
Expectations
Twenty-eight year old Yocelin Gómez Ramos of Antofagasta completed her education at Inacap, earning a degree in Automation and Industrial Control Engineering. She is one of the young people who is participating in this program, which allows apprentices to apply everything they learned in school and have new experiences related to their profession. The program is designed to give participants a chance to contribute their aptitudes and skills to the organization from the area to which they are assigned.
“This program is giving me job experience that encourages me to keep going. The knowledge that I will continue to acquire will give me more confidence to develop my career in an effective and responsible way. I am grateful to SQM for giving me this opportunity and for training me to better face everything ahead of me as a professional,” Yocelin said.
Inacap student and apprentice Kevin Santibáñez talked about his expectations for the program, which include learning new things and enhancing the knowledge he already has in order to create a good foundation for the future. In regard to the support he has received through the initiative, he noted that, “Thanks to the practical and theoretical training that they gave me, it will be easier to join the plant staff and put what I’ve learned into practice in order to bring a fresh perspective to each task and make the best decisions at work.”
The Apprentice Training Program is part of a series of specific actions that the company has taken to increase community engagement and encourage women to work in mining. It also aligns with the organization-wide Diversity and Inclusiveness Policy, which seeks to create equal opportunity in regard to attracting talent and employees’ personal and professional development. The strategy is based on three pillars that aim for a larger female workforce, hiring individuals from neighboring communities and hiring individuals with disabilities.